Building first computer

[gaminlegend3829]

Okay, I'm finally building my first computer. I'm using it to do some gaming and other tasks like school research and get on the internet. What I want to know is if this will run Battlefield 2 on medium-to-high setting:

RAIDMAX Storm ATX-847WTP Gray/Silver 0.8mm Japanese SECC Gaming Case Computer Case 420watts PS2 ATX12V Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811156133

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3000BPBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103537

MSI K8N Neo4-F Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4-4X ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130491

CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model VS1GBKIT400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440

MSI NX6600GT-TD128E Geforce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127147

Logitech X-230 2.1 Speaker
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16836121123

Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822135106

ASUS Black IDE DVD Burner Model DRW-1608P
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827135033

AOpen S-500 2-Tone USB + PS/2 Wired Standard MULTIMEDIA Keyboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16823144017

Windows XP Home Edition with Service Pack 2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16837102151

SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16821103116

Okay, I have some questions.

1.) Is everything compatible? I've checked over everything over and over and I'm pretty sure that everything is compatible.

2.) Is the PSU in the case good enough for now? I'll probably upgrade around Christmas time when I get more money.

3.) Should I get two 40 GB HD's and use RAID? What's the difference between RAID 0/RAID 1?

No, I'm not going to overclock for now. In the future, I may overclock the CPU just to try it.

Feel free to make any suggestions on things that I should upgrade for better quality. However, I'd still like to keep it around the 800 dollar range. Thanks.

 

[Mr Bob]

Overall, I think it is way overkill for a school computer, since you said you plan on doing gaming, it will be perfect.

I would go with this burner instead: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152047
As well as upgrade to the 3200+ CPU for an extra $50 > http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535

1.) Is everything compatible? I've checked over everything over and over and I'm pretty sure that everything is compatible.

- Yes, it is.

2.) Is the PSU in the case good enough for now? I'll probably upgrade around Christmas time when I get more money.

- It will be good enough. A lot of people here suggest going with a $60+ PSU, but you should be fine without it.

3.) Should I get two 40 GB HD's and use RAID? What's the difference between RAID 0/RAID 1?

- You would love to read this article: http://www.acnc.com/04_01_05.html

 

[jlbenedict]

replace that burner with either the NEC or PIONEER..
previous poster has the link to the NEC drive..

the 6600GT is a good card for light gaming...
a few more bucks would net you the ATI X800GT... but that might still be overkill for light gaming.. depending on what you define as "light gaming".....

 

[gaminlegend3829]

Well I wouldn't consider it light gaming really. I'll probably upgrade the card when I get some money, but for right now I think it'll do. Basically, I just want to play Battlefield 2, Half-Life 2, and games like that.

 

[Mr Bob]

The 6600GT is perfectly fine for that.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Ditch the PSU... Get one made by a reputable brand like Fortron, Sparkle, Enermax, or Antec. There's a nice 400W Fortron for only $40 at Newegg. Get the BenQ dw1640 burner (I think that's the model name). If you want to do a bit heavier gaming, try to dish out like $40 more for the X800GTO2. You can unlock and overclock to X850XT PE level fairly easily. Stick with the 3000+ Venice. It overclocks about the same as a 3200+.

 

[Mr Bob]

Ditch the PSU.

- The PSU will work perfectly until he decides to upgrade it later. Of course if you pay more for a PSU, you will get a better one, but you don't always need that.

You can unlock and overclock to X850XT PE level fairly easily. Stick with the 3000+ Venice. It overclocks about the same as a 3200+

He said

No, I'm not going to overclock for now. In the future, I may overclock the CPU just to try it.

That BenQ drive is pretty good too. I actually might switch my NEC for that, gotta check out the reviews.


EDIT: Here is a good thread about the BenQ > http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=27&threadid=1652070

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Okay, well even if he doesn't overclock, you only need to unlock the 4 pipes on the GPU for it to become an X850. It's not overclocking and can't damage your video card. It's just a simple BIOS flash. And overclocking really isn't hard at all, you should try it

 

[fibes]

2.) Is the PSU in the case good enough for now? I'll probably upgrade around Christmas time when I get more money.

I would highly not recommend using that PSU. Raidmax does not produce a quality PSU. You have high dollar components and they could be destroyed with a low quality PSU. A safe bet would be to buy a case and a PSU separately. For example, since you are on a budget, here is a suggestion.

Skyhawk Case

Fortron PSU

 

[HMSRevenant]

Did you just link to Newegg to give us a better idea of what you're buying or are you planning on buying from them as well? Newegg is a decent store and great for browsing (not the place to argue about this) but I think you should check out other retailers as well; try zipzoomfly, mwave, ncix, etc. They may have better prices and/or better deals on parts that you're looking for (I usually bide my time and wait for better parts to fall within my price range). Shop around and you won't regret it. I'm a student, too, and I've saved a bit of money by shopping around. That's more money for bourb...books . Also look around in the Hot Deals thread for ... hot deals. Just a bit of shopping advise.

 

[Hacp]

Everythings fine. Maybe get a xcilo PSU for 60 dollars shipped or a sparkle one. 6600GT can play the latest games, just not at 1600/1024 4XAA 16XAF. Can do 1280/1024 with 0AA and 8AF on all games just fine.

 

[gaminlegend3829]

Originally posted by: t3h l337 n3wb
Okay, well even if he doesn't overclock, you only need to unlock the 4 pipes on the GPU for it to become an X850. It's not overclocking and can't damage your video card. It's just a simple BIOS flash. And overclocking really isn't hard at all, you should try it

What do you mean by a BIOS flash? I don't understand much tech speak.

I'll be sure to shop around different websites too. I was just using Newegg to show off some things.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

A BIOS flash is basically when you just update the "software" on your video card. You unlock 4 pixelpipelines in the process, bringing it up to a total of 16, which is equivalent to an X850XT PE.